Overview
Our pregnancy loss and termination resources are intended to equip teachers, support staff, reps, leaders and employers with information and strategies for improving conditions for working women and parents in the distressing circumstances of ectopic or molar pregnancy, miscarriage, termination / abortion, stillbirth, neonatal death or maternal ill-health.
These distinct resources supplement our general guidance on maternity rights1 and signpost to external specialist maternal health and baby loss support and advice services. You might find some of the topics in this set of resources challenging to read about, particularly if you have had a similar experience. We urge you to call on trusted colleagues, sympathetic NEU members, friends, and family to build a network of support around you.
Our intention is that you can rely on NEU contacts and resources to help you navigate your way through your current situation and pave the way for a better experience at work for yourself and for other teachers and support staff.
Should you require immediate, confidential support including counselling or coaching related to your own experience, or as a result of supporting a colleague, you can contact the Education Partnership helpline on 08000 562 561 or at www.educationsupport.org.uk.
Employers and line managers should be extra sensitive to the distress and trauma that working women and parents may endure if they experience a pregnancy loss or baby loss. Employers should also be cognisant of the fact that heads and leaders who are managing a bereaved parent may have experienced baby loss themselves. Leaders, teachers and support staff are entitled to supportive work environments in which they feel able to discuss and disclose their pregnancy or their loss without fear of being disadvantaged or discriminated against at work.
In a supportive workplace, line managers and employers will listen, be compassionate, offer advice on workplace entitlements and procedures, offer assistance and seek advice and support themselves if they are not clear about a member of staff’s pregnancy or maternity rights.
Workplace reps can support pregnant women, and women and parents experiencing pregnancy loss or baby loss by listening, directing them to local workplace maternity agreements and policies and assisting them in asserting their rights at work. Reps can encourage NEU members to raise issues collectively with the employer with the aim of improving working conditions for all pregnant women, new mothers and women and parents who have experienced pregnancy loss or baby loss.
The terms that we use in our resources are the terms that were most commonly used by women responding to our maternity rights survey in 2022. We recognise that individual women and parents may prefer to use different terminology to describe their experiences.
We encourage reps and leaders to replicate the terminology used by the individual member of staff when discussing these sensitive issues, for example refer to a woman’s baby loss rather than pregnancy loss if that is the language that she prefers to use.